AZ Bill Would Refer Mismatched Ballot Signatures to Attorney General
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A bill proposed by Republicans in the Arizona Legislature would refer any ballots with mismatched signatures to the state attorney general for investigation. The bill, Senate Bill 1241, would make significant changes to the state’s cure process, wherein voters are alerted of a problem with their ballot and given the chance to fix it and have their vote counted. Under this proposal, voters would be alerted if their signatures did not match that on their registration form on file. In all other states, it is completely the voter’s choice whether or not they would like to fix the error — if they choose not to, their vote simply won’t be counted. However, S.B. 1241 would send any ballots that are not cured by voters by the deadline to the Arizona attorney general for investigation for potential voter fraud.
Certain groups of voters are more likely to have problems with mismatched signatures — older voters with health conditions, younger voters whose signatures are still evolving and voters for whom English is not their first language. This bill would punish these voters at disproportionate rates, and refer them for investigation if they chose not to cure their ballots.
The bill has passed key state House committees and awaits a final floor vote.